


The Guard and the experiment

by Captainbeenis



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dad Hopper, Father-Daughter Relationship, Other, Various levels of angst, brenner is a dick, guard - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-08-19 17:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20213308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captainbeenis/pseuds/Captainbeenis
Summary: 1979Hopper comes back to Hawkins to try to get a new start after what happened to Sara. The job of Chief of police seemed like the best idea, but one really well payed job in the Hawkins lab peeked his interest... something about making sure experiments are safe... he doesnt care really.orWhat if hopper ended up working in the Hawkins lab instead of Chief of police and meets a certain girl with powers and his dad instincs attack him.





	1. A lonely man

**Author's Note:**

> a little note here, hopper is still trying to come to term fully with what happened to Sara. In my mind he manage to get a grip with that while on hawkins and getting into pills and alcohol. so it will take him some time to maybe get his shit together a little.

The road was only illuminated by the highlights of his jeep; Hopper didn’t know how much time had passed since the beginning of the trip, and to be honest, he didn’t really care that much. The road was soothing in a weird kinda way, he didn’t need to think, just stare at the road and listen to whatever is on the radio, or just the motor of the jeep, or just not hear anything for a solid minute.

He remembers a little of the trip from when he was younger. if he wasn’t wrong there is a 24/7 store a couple of miles ahead, hopefully is not another motel like the other 10 he remembered, he really needed some coffee to at least make the whole trip without dying… 

His eyes liked to wander around the road, to the car, then to his hands and to the road again. Finally, his stare stopped for a second in the steering wheel. He didn’t move it, not even one bit, the road wasn’t important anymore, nothing really was… he could just keep driving till he ended up in a ditch… yeah that sounded…

A faraway light manages to snap Hopper out of his trance, to his surprise the jeep had moved to the left to the point he was in the wrong side of the road, with a big pair of lights coming right at him “I really need to stop for a second” hopper muttered before he put the jeep back in the right track. He massages his eyes a little in an attempt to make the tiredness go away, and when that fail he just pass his hand through his hair and kept driving like nothing had happen.

It took a while but he finally caught sight of the neon sign of the store, he already knew what he wanted: black coffee, something with a lot of sugar in it, probably a glazed donut, and some cigarettes. It always came to those 3 things when he thinks about it. while he worked in New York, it was always those three things, in the same order, in the same way, every day since… well, better not to dwell on that. Hopper took a look inside the store from the window, to find his 3 vital products. The kid on the counter was asleep and had the most punchable face he had ever seen. Some donuts were there, but didn’t look that good “I’ve eaten worse, I guess”. He took a moment to look at his hands they were sore from all the time in the same position, so he makes attempts to try and relaxed them and he just let himself in. 

The kid jumped from his seat when the little ring of the door sounded and looked like he just shat his pants when he saw Hopper. 

 Black coffee, big; two donuts and a pack of camel’s cigarettes.  
 S-s-sorry, what?  
 Didn’t you hear me kid? – his tone was angrier that he intended it to be, but he was too tired to care.  
 S-s-s-sorry. C-coffee, donuts, cigarettes. Got it.

He had to admit, the kid was a pro at fast multitasking, most people he knew would just spill or drop something on the way, this kid did neither. The donuts and the cigarette appeared on the counter while the kid went and poured a cup of coffee. After some seconds the kid stared at him for a moment, almost sweating bullets and with the coffee still on his hand.

 How much, kid?  
 $2,45 sir.  
 Ugh, don’t “sir” me, please… Here, keep the change- He handed the young man a five-dollar bill. - I need to get going.  
 T-t-thanks for coming – he said with a big smile

To be honest, he kinda pitied the kid. He remembered working a shitty job when he was sixteen “shitty, but it pays” he used to tell Joyce and she would laugh at him for a bit. He definitely had more style than the kid though, even now. That kid needed a haircut and nicer clothes if he wanted to avoid getting his ass kicked.

The night was cold, and there was this wind that came and went, and it didn’t help one bit. He hurried to his jeep, almost spilling a little bit of coffee in the process. He left the pack of cigarettes on the counter and took a big bite out of a donut. Like he expected, it was not that good of a donut “Still better than nothing” he thought to himself. 

He struggled a little with the cap on the coffee and after a couple of seconds of just looking at it, he decided to take a big sip. For better or for worse it tasted the same as the coffee they had at his old job. A tiny laugh escaped his lips as he turned the engine on and tried to not spill his coffee. “I swear, Carl, if I don’t get the job, I’m killing you” 

A week earlier

 Hey, Hopper. – Carl looked at him with a sad look on his face. He hated it for some reason, he never liked to feel like people pitied him.  
 What do you want, Carl? You know I don’t want to talk before I get some coffee in my system.  
 I heard about the chief firing you. – ‘Guess the walls can’t keep their freaking mouths shut.’ he thought, if it weren’t for the coffee Carl was offering him, he would have made a scene.  
 Thanks… and yeah… he said I was underperforming for the last months, and was getting too “aggressive”, so he decided to “let me go”, can’t say I didn’t see it coming; too much shit. – the sad look on his once partner became more evident.  
 So… what are you going to do? – he didn’t like to talk about his shit, but Carl always seemed helpful and was the only person who gave him some space to breath when he needed it the most. Carl seemed to know when to let him cool down, so he didn’t explode. All the others didn’t have that; they either ask too much or just looked at him like he was going to break. If only they knew.  
 I’m not sure for the moment… I got some money saved, and some things I could sell from the divorce, so, I could survive for like a year or two with that.  
 Is that your whole plan?  
 It’s an idea, ok? Not a plan. I guess I could get a job out of the state, I mean, nine years as a detective must count for something, right?  
Carl kept quiet after that, which was weird. He would normally be brainstorming ideas right now and telling him every little one that could work. So he looked at him and saw that the man was lost in thought, fidgeting with a piece of paper, biting his lower lip and looking at the ground. All signals that he wanted to say something but didn’t know if it was appropriate.  
 Spit it out.  
 I-I was… look man, a friend of mine knows a place where they need a police chief. He was trying to propose the job to me, but I think you’re better suited for the job. – he looked somewhat ashamed, so Hopper was skeptical. Something was off about this... – the only thing is… - here it comes… – it’s in Hawkins.

Hawkins… 

Freaking “nothing happens here” Hawkins. Probably ten-time winner “most boring town”, that’s just peachy. Now it was obvious the world wanted to kick him while on the dirt.

He took a long time to just look at Carl like this was some twisted joke to a man in his lowest, but his face was genuine. At least that’s what Hopper thought, and he had never failed at reading his partner. He’ll be damned if this was the first time.

 Hawkins needs a new chief, huh? Guess that means the old geezer finally kicked the bucket. – he didn’t like the idea one bit. Going back to Hawkins would be like… a defeat. He had decided to never go back there, to that hole of a town. But, well, he was already defeated.  
This seemed like some type of bad joke from the universe. One of the many that it seemed to throw at him every now and then. But fuck it.  
 I guess it’s better than what I had in mind.  
 Really?! – Carl let out a big sigh of relief – I didn’t think you would like it… you always talk like you broke out of that city; like it trapped people there.  
 It does if you let it. But I think I can do it. Not like I have too many options… so I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.  
 That’s great, man. Here’s their number. I guess you already know the address.  
 I used to live there, and I can assure you, there is not many things that change in there. Even the chief was the same man for like fifty years.  
 I guess you’re the expert – Carl let out a short chuckle. He handed Hopper a note that contained three phone numbers, with the respective names of the people they belonged to. None of them sounded very familiar, but hey, it’s been a long time.  
 Thanks Carl.  
 No problem… and… I’m, I’m sorry for what happened. You know… I feel like I didn’t do enough when… well, you know.  
 Hey, don’t worry… it’s not your fault. – it’s mine…

The coffee cup was now empty and the sound of the jeep was soothing as ever, and as the memory of his talk with carl slowly disappeared from his mind. He began feeling the effects of the caffeine slowly waking him up. He rubbed his neck to see if he could get it to not hurt, to no avail and let out a loud yawn. If he wasn’t too rusty, Hawkins should be somewhat of 20 miles, so probably he could get there just before dawn. It wasn’t that attracting of an idea, but the interview for the job was tomorrow, and he needed a good night sleep to look at least presentable, he could mess around in “good’ol” Hawkins till tomorrow and get a room somewhere.

But first, he needed to make on first stop. Once he saw it, he made a turn to a dirt road that was just a little too well hidden, but not to him. He escaped too many times from his house to his grandparent’s cabin to know the way like it was second nature. The road was all too familiar, he knew every bump in the road, and expected some that probably just disappeared with the weather and time. Trees seemed to bring back some memories with his grandad… blurry memories, almost like sketches in his brain, but still… memories.

The place looked horrible from the outside and he was 100% sure it looked worst on the inside. It looked like no one had even tried to fix the poor thing in decades “probably it would fall on me”. He didn’t know if his dad even cared about this place, and the fact that grandpa gave hopper the keys of it when he died and not to him must have been the final nail on the coffin. He stopped the jeep, got out of it and went to the backside to get all the boxes he wanted to save or, more likely, forget about. 

As soon as he opened the door he noticed he was right about the whole “looking horrible on the inside too”. Dust, the place was fill to the bone with it, it outlined everything, and with the light of his flashlight it seemed to dance in the air, the smell was not that great either. He didn’t want to spent too much time here, to many memories came flooding and there was almost no distraction possible, the pills were on the jeep. 

The boxes were left on the ground while he opened the trap door and got down to the basement. The thing had some boxes much older, filled with vinyl’s and some photos from when his mother and father were young, he moved them a little to make space for the new pack of things to be forgotten. All the books, his vinyl’s… stuffed animals, cards, games… clothes that no one used… drawings of a family… he couldn’t even look at them. 

the memories came flowing to him, before he knew it he was drowning in them, he needed to get out quick. He escaped the basement shaken, he didn’t notice when his breathing became ragged, but he didn’t like it. His pulse was in the sky by that point. 

He closed the trap door quickly, without a second thought, and rested his back on the wall. His eyes looked everywhere, searching for others that could see him in this state, vulnerable, open… but the cabin didn’t respond, he was alone… a sigh of relieve came out of his mouth, while he got up again. 

He opened the door to the outside, now the sun was probably coming out by the way a tiny specs of light seemed to come from somewhere in the trees. He went to run a hand through his hair just to notice he had grabbed something in the mist of his breakdown, it was a tiny drawing… one that Sarah had done… he looked at the drawing of himself and Sarah for a second, trying to see if it was worth the pain of going back inside of the basement… it probably wasn’t…

The air was still really cold as he walked to the jeep, but it would get better as he got close to Hawkins he thought. He hoped it would get better. He left the drawing in the glove compartment and turn on the engine.

The trip was a short one, he didn’t even notice when he was already in the suburb part of the town, and he was kinda regretting it. to give points to Hawkins, it had actually changed a little, the houses in this part were a little bit more “modern” and he didn´t knew half of the streets, so that was something to look forward to. when he arrived at the center of town he felt a little bit of nostalgia rushed him when he saw Melvald’s store, he just remembered when it was named “All’u’can buy” and then Melvald bought it when hopper was in the war. The guy was known for always saying he was gonna buy the store one day, hopper didn’t believe it one bit, the memory of the smug look on his face when he came back from Vietnam still lingers in his mind. 

Hopper notice the tiny bit of a smile forming and he wanted to tell the story to… but there he was, driving alone. He tried to keep his mind occupied for the moment while he searches for a decent enough hotel or at least one with a room. Luck seemed to be on his side since he found one pretty looking hotel not too far from Melvald’s. He booked a room for a week, with a discount thank to some charm from his part to the woman on the counter, hopefully he could get something else to live quickly enough, he didn’t want to sleep in the cabin. He didn’t have many things with him, just clothes, a watch and a lot of deodorant. The others things he could buy later. 

When he entered the room he was unsurprised, normal bed for one, a nightstand with a lamp, one TV “that is nice at least”, the closet and a bathroom. thankfully the shower was nice, and the actual clean clothes he had were better. The bed called him, but before he could rest from the trip, his stomach needed some energy, something to shut It while he tried to get the sleep he lost from his trip. 

He walked to the store to see if he could find something easy to cook or tasty to eat. People gave him weird looks from time to time, he didn’t care, this town was like that, everything new is a possible danger and must be looked weird. Sadly, one of the things that didn’t change while he wasn’t in Hawkins.

The store was totally empty, which isn’t weird looking at the hour, almost 9 a clock in the morning of a Monday, and it wasn’t as drastically changed as he had expected, in reality it was almost the same, save for a part of it that only had electronics. But he didn’t come for thing for his nonexistent house, he just wanted a snack or three. He grabbed some sandwiches that were in discount and many chocolate bars. The sleepiness still didn’t leave his body and the coffee long ago stop helping his life. So he just closed his eyes while he left the things on the cash counter.

 Hop? – “dammit, somebody knows me” he thought while opening his eyes to try and look for the person that called me, just to be received by some big brown eyes all too familiar looking right at him.  
 Joyce?  
 Oh my god it is you Jim, wha- what are you doing here on Hawkins? I thought you were working on New York. – “good to know her energy still is as high as ever, even if the bags in her eyes betray her enthusiasm”  
 Well I just got here, like an hour ago, actually. i think you can see it on my face.  
 Well welcomed back then. Why are you here though? If you don’t mind me asking, thought you would be a big cop in the even bigger city by now. – some memories of him talking to her about their future some long time ago came to mind for a second and just as quickly went away  
 I was actually, but… - “could I talk to her? … she could be still the same, but it’s been a while since we talked…better not” maybe it would come later… or never, either one is good for him. – stuff happened, and here I am, I’m trying to get a job as chief of the police here, actually.  
 Really? Why? thought you hated here?  
 It has some charm I guess – the lie was blatant but it seemed to pass nice enough under the radar.  
 Chief Jim hopper huh?  
 I sure hope so.  
 I think there is a vacant for a job as a security guard here at the store if that doesn’t work – she says looking at me with a side smile, it feels nice… a little force, with all the years of not talking and such, but nice nonetheless  
 I sure hope not. – I said sarcastically – I’m putting all my money on the chief job.  
 Well, if that doesn’t work you could go and work here at security – he didn’t laugh at the joke – no, I’m serious, many places need security guards.  
 Like? – she thought for a second or two  
 What about the lab, they will need guards right?  
 That thing is still working?  
 I think, nobody knows nothing more than it has some government project as of lately, they probably pay good so you could go.  
 It’s not a bad idea  
 Yeah, and you could tell me how it is. Nobody know and I’ve been always curious.  
 If I get in that is – my response is more cutting than intended… a part of me wants to keep talking to her, but another knows I’m probably not gonna do it. god knows I cause more harm than good. – well, sorry Joyce but I gotta get going before i pass out on your counter.  
 Ha ha, okey, take care hop.

His mind was a big mess of ideas after that encounter, the lack of sleep was really taking a toll here. She looked nice, nicer than him that’s for sure. With a turn of his head he saw his reflexion on a glass. “damn I look like shit”

“What about the medical laboratory, they will need guards right?” the words kept sounding in his head as he got close to the motel. The keys of the room in his hand dangle for a moment. “I have an extra copy of my curriculum in the jeep, it could work as a maybe if the chief job doesn’t work” 

the more time to think about the job, the more he changed the keys to the hotel room in his hand for the ones of the jeep… “fuck it, can’t hurt to go to it first.” he jumped quickly in the jeep, and drove directly to the laboratory.

Once the lab was in sight a whistle escaped his mouth. got to admit, the place is way bigger than how he remembered. Big was putting it lightly, the place was gigantic. Hopper got a weird memory from when he just got into New York, all the big skyscrapers and giant roads, not sure if that was good or bad. 

When he got close to the entrance he saw two big guys telling him to stop, they weren’t armed to the teeth, but they looked bulky, and way more in shape than how he was. “let’s hope this goes well, last thing I need is a beating” the bigger guy of the two got close to the window, he looked rough, like you could punch him in the face and you would feel it.

 Hello gentleman.  
 What are you doing here? this place is private property.  
 Oh well, you see, I’m new in town and wanted to know if there is any job vacant at security that I could get. – the look of confusion in the guy was priceless, he was clearly not expecting that.  
 I don’t know? - they guy gave hopper a quick look like trying to see if he was fit enough for the part. Finally, after some time he seemed decided - Hey mark, you know if there’s an open job here?  
 I believe one job is free, but I couldn’t tell you.  
 Could I pass and leave my curriculum or something inside? – another weird look, it was obvious to hopper that this guys didn’t trust him.  
 Let me ask.  
“Well then… went better than expected, I just need to make a nice first impression and let the curriculum” he was still being seen by the other guard and now he realized he had one big revolver on his hip, so the pressure was still there. “why didn’t I buy a god damn coffee”  
 Did you have a job before?  
 Used to be an investigator in New York but I got fired two weeks ago.  
 cutting heads in the staff of the police? – said the guy with the revolver  
 You could say so. – “the other guy seemed to be way more chilled, at least it doesn’t look like he wants to kill me, the same could not be said about the other one, he still looks like he wanted to put a bullet in my head.”  
 Yes, sir… there is one man here… he says he comes to leave a curriculum of sorts… used to be a cop… yeah… big…all right sir – he looked back at hopper – okay - the guy just looked at him like that was the clearest signal to give.  
 Okay… what?  
 You can pass, doctor Brenner wants to talk to you, he’s the boss here  
 Wait… for real?  
 Are you gonna go or not?  
 don’t need to tell me twice

The gates opened as the jeep got close to them, leaving an open road that lead to the imposing building that was the Hawkins national lab. He felt observed from everywhere, all eyes were on him in that moment. He stopped in the parking just in front of the main gate, where a skinny man in a business suit awaited, calmly, looking at every move he made. He grabbed the curriculum from the seat, and got out of the jeep.

 Nice to meet you mister…  
 Hopper, Jim Hopper  
 Nice to meet you Jim, I’m the doctor Martin Brenner, I’m the head director of this laboratory - he took my curriculum from my hands and began reading it - if I heard correctly you wanted a security job in this facility, must I ask why? – oh fuck, I didn’t expect this guy to ask this on the first meeting.  
 Well – time to bullshit my way out of this - I’ve always had a thing for science, just not really the brains for it, but recently it came again, and well, I wanted to work in some way in the science industry.  
 I guess we get to the places we like, just not how we thought right? Mind following me. - he said as he began walking.  
 Exactly.  
 Did you do other work close to security?  
 I used to work as an investigator in New York for 9 years was really good at it, also I was a soldier in the Vietnam war, don’t know if that counts. But I do know how to hold myself for my own.  
 Interesting… - he said still looking at the curriculum.  
The conversation kept going as they kept talking, the facility was big, the exterior didn’t make it justice to how big it could feel, suddenly they stopped at a door that said “DR. Brenner” and the doctor let hopper in.  
 Please, take a seat. – he followed suit with his proposition  
 Thanks  
 From what I can read here you’re more than prepared for this job, but I must tell you something. We only have one job – he slid a piece of paper that had the specifications for a “Exclusive security of subjects” making hopper raise an eyebrow – it’s a very specific but important job in this facility… but, at the same time, it is extremely dangerous. I’m not gonna lie to you, people of that position had died.  
 So that’s why it’s available  
 Oh no no, that was years ago, the last guard just quit after 2 years, he wanted different things, once he got the money he asked to go and we let him. I tell you we are taking all the precautions to make that job as secure as possible. We have insurance in case of damage, all your medical bills for the time you’re working for us will be costed by the lab, even ones exterior to work. Also the pay is higher than the rest of the guards, for the risk. – now hopper was really interested.  
 How much will it be?  
 How much did you get working for the police?  
 $1200 just before they fired me.  
 We will be paying you $7500 a month – hopper couldn’t help the whistle that escaped from his mouth that was almost the triple he would get as chief. But something didn’t match here. It seemed too good to be true he guessed.  
 Okey, what is the catch here?  
 The only things we ask from you is that you must keep everything you see and hear here a secret, not to take anything or move anything and that you don’t interact much with the scientist or the experiments we do here, unless we require it from you.

your job will mostly mean helping the doctors with whatever they ask, see that the cameras function well and that nothing out of the ordinary occurs without us knowing it. A violation or a refusal to this conditions and we will have to fire you and will lead to a demand. If you firm this contract, you accept all the condition that we put. There is everything we just talked plus some other legal things.

The contract was not very hard to understand, but it did have some weird phrasings and complicated terms, but the guy wasn’t lying, almost everything they talked was there, but some part of him still said “just run”.

 My job is just to make sure things go smoothly in the experiment department, help whenever necessary, and stop anyone who isn’t on a list.  
 Right… and camera security on the lower floors, we don’t work all days on big experiments.  
 So every once in a while, just cameras… - ‘also this experiments could go wrong and kill me and lead by how much emphasis they put on it, is a high chance’ – and shifts?  
 Depends on what we need for the rest of the week. You would get some day of the weekend free, and you would work mostly on the day, but we may also need night shift from you. We would tell you on the Saturday of every week if there is any change. – he took a second before he kept on talking - So mister hopper, if you firm the contract you accept all the dangers that comes with it and also all the benefits. – in short, am I willing to risk dying for some money and a great health insurance or not? 

I put my firm in the paper without much thought, I didn’t really care. The pay was great, that would be nice to have. “but you could die” said my brain to me in repeat… but was really that something so bad?


	2. Close Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hopper's first day on the job as a security guard. may contain some house buying and encounters with everyones favorite mom, Joyce byers, the master chef that is Benny Hammond and a little girl most of you know and love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankfully i did manage to write something quickly and before college got fucking hard, so enjoy.

Hopper woke up to the sound of a weird alarm and one hell of a hangover. It took him way too long to realize that this was not his apartment in New York and that he wasn’t sleeping in his old bed, which somehow he remembered dirtier than the sad hotel he was staying at. One quick glance at the clock told him it was 1:30 in the afternoon, not a bad time to wake up when you have nothing to do in the morning. 

He didn’t want to get up, that would mean he needed to go and do something, not the most enticing of ideas really, but after long minutes of contemplations and self conviction, he got the energy to try and get out of bed and get dressed, after all, he still needed to get someplace to live. 

Thanks to his old apartment that he sold previous to the trip, money wasn't a problem. he had said to himself that it was to make sure he wouldn’t come back, but the truth was other. He was way too attached to the place. he had it since before meeting Diane, rented it for a while so it gave them some money from the side while they raised... while they raised Sarah, and had been the place he had lived after… everything happened. So he decided that he needed to get rid of it. It was a safe haven, and he didn’t really want to have one. It was too tempting. He put some casual clothes and went on the third, probably day long, trip to find a place to live.

the money from the apartment and from his half of the house could pay for any place he saw (thankfully he had not spent in tons and tons of alcohol, his monthly paid the price for that to happen) so paying for a place wasn’t the problem, but every single house he could see was a little too familiar. Way too close to what he once had... “god fucking dammit” he had till today to find something to live in or he would have to pay another week on the hotel and his charms wouldn’t get him so far as to lower the price… even if it wasn’t that big of a problem. he just didn't like it.

He watchs another suburban house just like the others on sale and sighs, he wasn’t making any attempts to really get a place. He didn’t want a house really, but the pigs would fly before this piece of crap city had free apartments this time of the year. Even the houses that looked like shit didn´t seemed right. 

“Fuck it”. Was all he said while he drove away from the houses in an attempt to keep his mind away from everything. he saw a sign that guided to the lake and he took the turn to it. The lake always had seemed to help him escape everything when he was young, he just hoped it still had that power. He grabbed a pill from his counter top and ate it, to calm his nerves and the panic attacks he once had said. 

When he finally saw the lake he knew he had made the right choice. Just the sight was enough to ignore everything else and just concentrate in the moment. It had always been like this. The calmness of the water, the wind, the birds. He liked it. he remembered times with his grandad trying to see if they could catch something on it, to no avail. He stopped for a second to watch the water and the herbs that grow in it, memories flooded him like they seem to do so much... he had seen a lake in one investigation not so long ago and the idea of fishing had come to his head for that summer… he never got the chance to do it with Sarah… 

After a second or two he manage to finally snap out of it… and that’s when he saw it, a little house, more like a trailer, just by the lake. It wasn’t pretty by all means, it wasn’t even decent, but it was different, more importantly, it wasn’t a goddamn suburban house. It was long and thin, but god damn if it wasn’t the most refreshing look he had saw all day. 

He got close to it and notice a sale sign in the front door "I guess it’s my lucky day" he knocked a few times in the door to see if someone was inside, but he received no response. He waited a few seconds and knocked again, now louder. He was patient, he had to be, he remembered the poor family that went to see his apartment just as his hangover was in full force that day, it was surprising he manage to keep the apartment clean as he was a complete mess. He hoped to no mess this one up. 

Thankfully he didn’t, the old guy that owned the house was really sick with Hawkins; couldn’t blame him, hopper was sick of it in his twenties and he was kind of sick of it now. the old geezer just wanted to get out with some money and travel around the world for years, hopper had laugh at the jokes that the guy told and responded with his own, just to try and keep himself in the good side of this guy, he wanted the place so bad, it was a perfect mixed between a mess, cozy and calm his favorite mix. 

The sale was quick thankfully, he got a price; not very cheap, but with the amount of furniture the place had it was expected; and he thankfully had enough to pay it on the spot, he received the keys of the house and the old guy just went into the van outside and drove into the distance, his face ringed some bells but he couldn’t remember from where, he didn’t care really. He took another glance at the keys in his hand, the keys of his newly bought "home"... he kept looking at them till his eyes drifted down a little... he kept his eyes on the blue hair tie for a couple of seconds and then sighed... he needed to get things ready before work.

He needed to be in the lab at 9:30 pm to begin his first night at the job. He wasn’t to keen on the idea of be awake till 5 or 6 in the morning but he remembered the 7500 bucks and he didn’t mind it that much. It was 5:48 in the afternoon so he had some free time to bring the things from the hotel to his new house. He saves the keys in the back pocket of his pants and went to the jeep to go find his thing and say good bye to the sad freaking hotel. 

The drive was nice. Now that his mind wasn’t stressing over getting a home, he could actually enjoy the little beauty Hawkins had. The houses again weren’t much, and all of the structures were old and had seen better days. But something in the air called you in… 

When he got to the hotel, he didn’t even spend 10 minutes in it before leaving the place and the keys of the room and getting to the jeep to go into Melvin’s store to get things for his new home, also a woman he didn’t remember too much came to the hotel right as he was going, and she didn’t seem so happy he hadn’t call her, that made him quicker too. He didn’t know what he needed from the store, but he will figure it out while he was in there. 

He grabbed some rice, noodles, meats, cheese, milk, bacon, and everything else that could last at least a week in the fridge up to half a month. He tried to pass through the candy ail the fastest he could, trying not to pick one, he failed midway and picked two chocolate bars and some cookies for the way. 

When he got to the check he had a full shopping cart with things that he didn’t knew if he needed but seemed useful in case something was to happen. Joyce wasn’t working at the cash so he guessed her shift must have ended or she had a free day. He thought he would get away from the teasing for the extreme amount of shit he bought, but Melvald’s was there to make sure that wasn’t the case. 

“Are you going to go on a trip son or is this just your afternoon snack” said Melvald looking at his stomach, smiling clearly proud of his own comment.

Hopper’s put on the fakest smile he could conjure and looked at him dead in the eyes “HA HA MELVIND FUNNY FUNNY STUFF. Got a new house, need to fill the place. You know.”  
Sadly, for hopper, the little smile didn’t leave his face, the fake amiability he knew him for was still on full power “Someone's in a sour mood heh, not to fond of coming back to good ol Hawkins” hopper did manage to stop a comment of how “good” was the last word that came to mind while thinking of Hawkins.

“Not really...” he finally said after going through all the possible insults to his home town “but you know life, everything happens for a reason, right” he hated the phrase... he had heard it too many times in the past, but it would hopefully keep Melvin’s from his life while he talked about his store.

“Guess you're right. Wouldn’t have my store if it weren’t for old...” now it was hoppers time to smile to himself. It had worked like a charm. He took the time to zone out at the conversation Melvald had with himself. he really did not care… never had. Hopeer could remember 3 times that the guy had tried and told him the story before, and still he couldn’t tell any detail about it if his life depended on it.

The sudden sound of the cash register managed to snap him out of it “... that would be $50.45” it took a second for the words to finally make sense “Oh... there you have”  
He grabbed all of the bags and, after going out the store, tried to make the most perfect b line to the jeep he could, he wasn’t really in the mood to talk to someone right now. he was almost successful, but… just in the corner of his eye he saw a struggling Joyce in all of her glory, fighting with an old car about to die to try and making it turn on.

He let a big sigh escape from his mouth while he left the bags on the jeep and sit in the driver’s seat thinking 'maybe i can drive away and not think or get involved'... yeah he could do that

“having problems there Joyce?” Of course he couldn’t.

“Oh god... hopper” she said with a jump, apparently she was too fixated on trying to get her car to work “don’t scare me like that...” she took a second to catch her breath “but yes, I don’t know what the hell is happening with this, and I need to go home and make dinner for Jonathan and Will and…” 'Will huh, guessed I missed something big there'  
She turned around to try again at fixing her car with a big sigh. Hopper knew she didn’t know anything about cars, but she always tried to see if she could magically learn everything about cars and get things done. He couldn’t help the little chuckle that escaped his lips, it was nice to know Joyce was still the same panicky mess as always.

After another annoyed grunt hopper decided that maybe it was time to step in “Hey, don’t worry, i can help a little, i drove some pieces of shits in new york so got a little practice” he said with a side smile while she looked at him for a second.

“Oh no please you don’t have to…” she began but was cut out by hopper raising his hand to stop her from whatever rambling she was going to do “Hey, it’s no problem.” she tried to argue but he gave her a look and she refrain. “Thanks hop.” He nodded and tried to see what was really wrong with the car, it was way worse than what he thought, the car seemed to just worked by divine grace, because it really should not work. 'But hey, I’m already in this, gotta try and do something, my pride is on the freaking line here'

“Do you have something to smoke?” he heard Joyce softly ask as he kept trying to see what made everything work. He grabbed the box of cigarettes from his pocket and gave one to her. She lighted it up and said a quick “Thank you” to him. “No problem” was all the response he could think of. He kept working on the car and finally, after a long time, some of the parts about it began to made some type of sense, and progress was being made. 

“This brings back some memories don’t you think?” hopper gave her a questioning look not understanding what was she referring to. Then out of nowhere memories of her figure standing there with the cigarrete between her fingers and a smile on her face while he worked, joked or just looked at her began attacking him. 'I should really stop with the memories' he thought. “Yeah, but this piece of shit car looks like a Ferrari next to your dad’s car” a big laugh escaped her lip. “I guess you're right, but that car was a classic” “I think the word you're searching for is prehistoric.” She laughed, louder this time at the comment, making hopper a little proud that his sense of humor wasn’t completely rusty.

“It did manage to save our asses in more than one time” he let out a chuckle “Mister Jameson shitted his pants every time your dad went to bought groceries thanks to us.” Now that memory did make him laugh “so I guess you’re right” he kept looking at her for a second as both their laughs seemed to die down a little. “somehow I’ll fuck it up” before more thoughts like that could appear he changed the subject “well... see if the car turns on.”

She put the keys on the engine, but it didn’t turn on, some part of the car did seem to move weirdly. Suddenly he got an idea. He hoped this worked.

“God dammit.” The curse from Joyce distracted him from his plan but he quickly got to action. “Did you try flirting with it?” it took her a few seconds to understand what he had said “Hopper what the fuck are you talking about?” she said pissed out of her mind.

“Just look...” he got close enough to the car so she could still see him “hey there you hot stuff why so alone? Need some hopper in your life.” he took this chance to move some parts inside of it that hopefully would make the car work again.

“What in the fuck?” it was almost impossible to keep a straight face, but he needed to make this thing work. “just gotta turn it on a little, just try turning it on” she keeps looking at him like he was a fucking idiot “she's not wrong” but when she turned the engine on and the car began to function like it should she just gave him a look between mildly amused and very pissed.

“You can’t beat my charm Joyce.” He said with the biggest grin he could muster “You're an idiot...” slowly her laugh began creeping in till she was almost a little out of breath. When she did manage to get calm she just looked at him “thank for fixing my car Hop” “no problem Joyce.”

A second seemed to pass with none of them actually moving, he was almost going to just say his goodbyes when “How can I repay you?” oh no “You don’t need to...” “I know, come to dinner tonight, you know i can make some mean chicken, and we got a lot to catch up to” as soon as he heard the words come out he knew there was no escape from this, she was either already searching for the things she needed or planning the drinks. Thankfully work could save him.

“I'm sorry Joyce, but I can’t today, first day on the job you know.” Her face deflated when she heard the words, but her expression was quickly replaced with one of curiosity. “Oh... did you get the job in the lab?” “Yeah, first day… well night on the job” 

“You could come in the weekend” she said after some time. He looked at her for a moment, he knew there was no escape from this, Joyce byers was a woman of commitment when she had her mind into something, one “I don’t know” or even a “no” were of no use. 

‘let’s just do it’ “I don’t work Saturday night, so it could be that.” her face brightens up the moment she heard the words and a little smile manage to appear on her face “Saturday will work” she hopped into her car, careful not to touch the ignition, put on the seatbelt and looked at him “see ya on Saturday, so prepare stories about the big city.” And she left.

So now he had a “house”, a good job and a dinner at Saturday with his old friend, this seems to be going better that what he thought it would be. “Better get going to the job before I get late to work after all that good things”

The drive to the lake was short and nice, he just needed to get things ready now so he didn’t have to do it when he gets there tomorrow. He parked his jeep just outside the trailer and went to the back of it to grab all the grocery bags inside. It took all his strength to do it in one go, his hands weren’t too happy about it, but he didn’t want to waste more time.

Once he had all the food in the fridge or the dispense, he went to grab his old suitcase with clothes and the new suit they gave him. he left them in the sofa in the middle of the living room, and went to the bathroom with the suit to get ready for the job. It’s been a while since he needed to put on a suit and tie, way too long, so his hopes for it fitting weren’t high.

Surprisingly enough it did, of course he wasn’t in shape so it was still weird, but he looked better than he thought he will. 

He grabbed the bars of chocolates and a sandwich (he didn’t know if he would have a lunch break at night, but better safe than sorry) and went to the car, he still had 30 minutes or so to get to his job, he could be in 20 if he didn’t even try so he wasn’t to stressed. He got in his jeep and once the seatbelt of the car was put tightly around him, he pushed the pedal and went as slowly as possible.

The road was very calm, wish wasn’t a surprise “Hawkins after all”, but he hadn’t thought how used he was to the horrible traffic and loud sounds of New York till now. He kept the speed to 40 till, after some twist and turns in the road, he was finally on his way to the lab. The sun had already set and the headlights of the jeep illuminated the obscure road once again, he liked it like this.

He decided to put on the radio so he could have something to distract himself outside of the road ahead. He didn’t realize he had not been paying too much attention to the road till some big red lights at the right of the road manage to get his attention. "Benny's burgers" it said. “you got to be shitting me” he made a quick turn, parked the jeep and went inside the fastest he could.

“welcome to benny's what would you... Jim?” the big figure of his friend stood right there, he had changed a bit, little bit bigger to the sides just like him, but his face was the same, full to the brim with expressions.

“so it was you” he exclaimed while laughing hysterically “oh god so, you did open the freaking burger place.” Hopper couldn’t believe it, there was no way his friend had made it.  
“yeah man, I told you I’ll do it, didn’t I” he said shyly, he never was someone bombastic when talking, but in his face you could see he was proud “Meanest burger in all of Indiana, some had told me” he had told him a long time ago, even before they both were drafted to Vietnam, that he was going to open the best god damn burger place he could. Hopper had laugh because he could not picture his friend at the time working in a burger place, getting sterns looks from him. Benny was a big guy, but a freaking softie at heart, so he didn’t like it very much when he had laugh at his dream, even if it wasn’t because he didn’t believe him. 

The thing was though, benny had been a great cook since almost childhood, his mom had taught him cooking when he was young… thing his dad didn’t appreciated much… that was one of the main reason they gravitated toward each other since very young.

“and a really nice place too” it wasn’t the prettiest place he had seen, but damn it screamed “you’re welcomed, just sit and eat” and the smell made hopper mouth water. “well you need the best to sell the best...” his smirk was big, he was proud of this place “hey hopper, what's with the suit man, never knew you were the classy type? Got a fancy date in here?”

“I’m not, sadly, got a job here in the Hawkins lab, and they have me wearing this piece of shit.” He said gesturing at the suit that, while pretty nice and elegant, wasn’t the comfiest thing in the world. “you got a job on the lab?” he said confused. “yeah, it pays a lot, and I’m just security, couldn’t do shit while in chemistry class, can’t do shit now.” Benny laugh at the comment harder than hopper would have liked, so he waited a second for him to stop his laughter so he could make a remark at him, but a glance at the clock in the wall got in the way… 9:20. 

“Oh fuck I’m going to be late to work, well benny, always a pleasure, maybe I can come some other time to grab a burger.” Benny finally seemed to calm down a little to get up and put a hand on hopper’s shoulder “of course ma, come anytime. But don’t expect a discount, you said your pay is good and this place doesn’t maintain itself.”  
“Got it.”

He did manage to arrive to the job only 2 minutes late… bad part was he still needed to find were was his... office? seat? Shared room? Hopper didn’t exactly know; this was supposed to be his introduction. With a little help from some scientist and the receptionist he did manage to find the person that supposedly would direct him. A thin guy dressed exactly like him, balding pretty heavily on the top of his head and a nose a little to the side, probably from getting it broken too many times.

“hello, I’m...” he tried to introduce himself but was cut off by the guy that just quickly turned around to look at him directly in the eyes “Hopper?” The guy gave him an inquisitive look and put his arm close to his gun. “the one and only.” This seemed to calm the guy enough to get his hand away from the holster 

“you're late, boss don’t like that, so try and not make the same mistake twice” he made a signal so hopper would follow him and began walking through the hallway “So what did they tell you about the job”

“they told me it was dangerous, that the pay was good, that I could not say anything that I saw inside and that I would have some kind of shift, cameras or helping with experiments. Not much more than that though, didn’t really care.” The guy turned around to get a good look at hopper, he looked at him from head to toes but said nothing, after a few seconds he just pressed the button to call the elevator.

“that’s pretty much it, if I’m real with you. But they should have really pin point the dangerous part.” It had been bothering him the fact that a normal looking lab could have something so dangerous they needed thousands of red flags for it… “and why is that?” hopper finally asked as they entered the elevator hopping to get a little bit more info on just what the hell is they have here.

“well you're going to be helping with some of the experiment here, and they can sometimes be… unpredictable. Many died in the first escapes, but now everything is more safe, but you got to be careful nonetheless, accidents can happen and you can get hurt pretty badly.” “so this ‘experiments’ escape often?” asked hopper while resting his back on the wall of the elevator “oh no, one of them use to, but haven’t heard of an escape in years… that doesn’t mean they don’t retaliate.” before he could ask what the hell did that mean the elevator had opened, giving way to a sight that was a little too familiar to him.

The walls, the doors, the lights, the smell, that god damned smell of cleanness and antiviruses. It looked way too much like the hospital. His breath seemed to get stuck in his throat while his eyes shifted from side to side trying to not look at what was in front of him. He tried to keep his mind on the guy guiding him, but he already missed a lot of what the guy said and the halls and memories that flooded him weren’t making it easy… 

“...can be a little unstable, but just be really careful and you would be fine. This here is the main place where you would be. At least till you’re require to help with something.” The guy opened the door to a room that was full to the brim with monitors of camera recordings. Thankfully for hopper it didn’t look like the rest of the facility.

“there are more than 20 rooms and every room has at least 2 cameras, halls and stairs have only one camera and there’s not that many. If one of them goes out or shuts down, sadly you got to go there and reset it manually, they have a red button in the back that does it for you, so don’t sweat it. we are setting up a system so the reboot themselves, probably would be set down in some weeks, so this part of the job is temporary. In the table we left your gun, security card so you can actually get here when you want and a teaser. My name is Jerry Burtnam welcome aboard Hopper.”

“Thanks” ‘a teaser and a 44. revolver, what the hell did they expected me to kill with this?’

“Well hopper i need to get back upstairs, hope you stick around with us” he gave him the tiniest of smiles. The way he had talked to him all this time was strange, being nice but not wasting time in details, giving smiles, but didn’t actually caring who the other person is. He knew this, when he first got to Vietnam one of the commanders gave him a speech just like this one. This probably wasn’t his first time saying this. Probably said the same things to someone else and then the guy quitted; it was kind of obvious he didn’t think Hopper had what it was needed. But he had always loved to prove people wrong.

“see you around”

He was thankful that this job didn’t require him being outside this room all the time, just once every hour or whenever one of the cameras went off, a weirdly common thing by the way. he already had to reset 7 of them in the course of the night, some many times. Every time he went out, the memories came, the useless hope, the cries, the screams. He didn’t think he could actually survive in the facility if it weren’t for the tiny room he was now in; it gave him a breather from the way too many things to remember when Sarah was at the hospital.

Even looking at the cameras was a something that made him nervous. But it wasn’t only the similarities with the hospital that made it so weird, some definitive weird shit was happening in this place, some rooms didn’t have a camera, but he could see some malfunctions in lights at random times, and a weird shaking on some. he could make some assumptions but he didn’t have anything to go for. For all he knew they could be trying a new type of electric therapy or machines.

It was deep into the night, and the amount of coffees he made when out of the room wasn’t helping the fact that he needed to go to the bathroom, but didn’t want to. 

“I’m going to be in this place for a long time working... least I could know is know where the fucking bathroom is.” he said trying to give himself some courage, to not so great results. “if we don’t have what it needs. Fucking Jerry is right.”

As soon as he got up and walk to the door, he began regretting the decision, but he wasn’t a quitter, he could do this. Once outside, with the horrible smell, and the walls, he began walking, he didn’t know where, but he just kept walking. If he stopped the memories would appear. Maybe he would just appear in the bathroom if he walked enough. Not his best plan. 

But before he could do something about it, he ended up bumping into someone in his almost blind walking.

“oh sorry I didn't see you...” hopper stopped for a second when he saw doctor Brenner staring completely confused at him, or at confused at he let himself be, he always looked so immovable… but he wasn’t the main focus of his attention for the time being... at the doctor’s side was a little girl, her head was completely shaved and she was wearing a little white hospital cloth... her eyes looked at him completely terrified… “she looks a little bit younger than what Sarah would be by...”

“Oh, you’re the new guard right... forgot this was your first day, Hopper was it right?” it took hopper a second to snap out of it, and a little bit more to realize what was he asking him. “Oh yeah, i got here a couple of hours. I actually was wondering where is the bathroom?” his voice was almost breaking, he hopped he was the only one realizing that it was happening.

“That would be on the other side of the hall, its actually 3 rooms from the security room.” said Brenner wearily, hopper was hoping he didn’t realize the state he was in, halfway through a panic attack, and looking constantly at this girl by his side.

“must have missed it by accident, well thanks doctor” he said trying almost breaking his voice for a second, he gave a last look at the girl 'she’s not Sarah… she’s not alive… Sarah is gone…' a moment later he began walking to the bathroom.

Before entering, he stole one last look at Brenner, he was grabbing the little girl’s hand and began guiding her somewhere else... “okay, the girl exists, that’s good, is not my mind fucking with me... but that was weird... what the hell is a little girl doing here? Its almost 5 in the morning, kids need sleep” 

he washed his face a little to try and clear his thoughts, drowned one pill and looked himself in the mirror from a moment to try and keep it together. After 5 minutes of looking at a sad man trying to not panic he went inside of the security room and began looking at the cameras for Brenner. But something did manage to get his attention. He was sure the cameras 2, 6 and 10 should have recorded him and Brenner and the little girl colliding. But there was nothing, the cameras went out as soon as he had left the room. The 10 camera, showed how the door was opening so he could go to the bathroom in a panic and then… black. Also there were no signs of which door could have Brenner come from… That seemed way to convenient…

He stopped there a little looking at the dead cameras. 2, 6, 10, 22 and 45. The last two were the weirdest of the bunch. Not only were they the ones that went out the most, but they were also the ones with the biggest trip to reset them. 

It took Hopper 5 minutes to go to 22 and another 7 from that one to 45. They went always in duos and when he came back, another was off... So they didn’t want recordings of Brenner or the little girl or where do they come from or where they went to… “or they don’t want people to know, people like me…” Maybe he was in something bigger than he had thought. The feeling of this job being a grace from heaven to him was slowly going away. 

“My god I’m going to have to save my own ass here” he began recounting things to not fall on a pit of panic. first of all, Brenner. He does seem to trust him. But after the encounter they had, he could began having his doubts… “god fucking dammit … okay, if he asks, I just say I got nervous because I got lost and he could have thought I was slacking, so if I seemed kind of weird it was because of that”. Hopefully he doesn’t know about his past more than the jobs he had put on the curriculum. Or they could began making some assumptions about his reaction at the hall.

Now the kid… that was other thing, his best bet was to keep the ‘I don’t care about shit, while you pay me’ attitude, and hope he doesn’t fuck it up and they eat it up. They don’t know I know about the cameras so if I keep doing my job like I should and they watch the recording, they won’t think, or hopefully care, about him. 

Yeah, that sound like a plan, not a good one, not even a decent one, but he could make due. He went out and began, hopefully, what seemed like the last time he will be resetting the cameras for the night. 22, 45, 10, 6… “just one more and I should be ready to grab my thing get to my home and try not to think about today, maybe sleep well for once in my…”

“hey Hopper” “just my fucking luck” he turned around to see the figure of his boss standing at the other end of the hallway. He got closer to try and seemed not scared “Yeah boss?” ‘why did It had to be Brenner’ he took a look at him for a second then he shifted his interest to one of the doors in the hall.

“I wanted to talk to you about the little encounter we had earlier” he said after being quiet for some time. “Oh yeah, sorry about that, got a little nervous when I saw you, boss. I thought you would think I was slacking off from my job so I panicked a little.” it wasn’t easy trying to be convincing while you’re shitting your pants, but hopper would try god dammit.

“Oh. So that’s what happened.” he looked at him right in the eye, with his smile that seemed to try and give you a sense of security to lower your guard. But yeah, hopper used to be a cop, he knew how to not fuck up a lie and seemed convincing about it. Brenner seemed happy with the fact he didn’t flinched, so he kept talking “and what you saw…”  
“That’s none of my business Doctor… I’m just the guy that keep little things working here, if you need me to know I will, if not, I won’t care” ‘please believe me’ he kept looking at him for a while, looking at every part of his face for a long time, expecting any kind of movement. “That’s good.” he said simply after a while “Well, see you tomorrow then Hopper. Maybe then we would get you something more interesting.”

He didn’t know if that was good or a death sentence, but one thing was clear to him, this thing that was happening here, right now, was way to convenient to be a coincidence. Brenner just being there, the cameras going out that were somewhat obvious, this fucking talk… this was definitely planned, he didn’t know if this was a test or something, but this was surely a message “we control this place, don’t get too many ideas”

That fact was going to be a bother for him on the long run, he never liked being a puppet or controlled, but he was going to play their game. He didn’t want to destroy this place or uncover anything hidden, so he didn’t have any reason to have fear. So he just pushed past Brenner for a second and pushed the button to reset camera 2, after that he gave a look to him that seemed like an approval.

“I hope so. this day a really boring one.” was the only answer he gave him.

“Don’t worry, it’s just the first day, there’s more to come.” a soft punching sound began to resonate in a room in the back of the hallway and loud scream accompanied them. he thought he heard the words “PAPA” once, but tried to push them away. None of those things were good.

Brenner ignored the sound, seemingly accustom to it and turn around to go to the elevator. He looked at him one last time and before the door closed he said “I hope you stay a long time with us Jim” and he pressed the button. 

The screams got a little louder as he entered his room to get his things and got out. “PLEASE PAPA”. The pill he had swallowed was actually doing its job of keeping him in check for once in a while, but the sound was horrible, they were more of a horror film than a laboratory. 

He gave one looked at the door and saw a “Exp. 11 T. D.R” in the middle of it. he walked to the elevator that was somewhat closed to it and nervously pressed the button for it to come back quickly while he heard clearly the screams. He didn’t open the door… he couldn’t, this was already the weirdest first day on a job. but for tonight he could keep the scream out of his mind and try to get some sleep for once. Just this once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it, next chapter probably is going to be a long one, i have too many ideas for it and it seems like every chapter i write is a full day. also i'm probably going to end creating original characters as workers in the lab. it's going to be hard to create pieces of shit with some background or personalities, but hey, that's the joy in writing for ya.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter was kinda hard to write, i didn't know if i needed to put or not him meeting eleven, but ultimately decided to let it go to the next chapter.  
Hope you liked the first chapter. any kind of feedback is welcomed. 
> 
> side note i'm in the beginning of a semester in college so this fic may take a little to come out fully.


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